The WORST team to have on your schedule the rest of the season?

[Perspective]

25 minutes ago, nolebull813 said:

They were a school decades before they had a football team. At what point did they need a football team to survive as a school?

Per their own website, CAI was founded in 1984.  Per Wikipedia, CAI was formed in 1997 when three schools (Jefferson Academy, A to Be School and Renaissance Academy )all merged.   My guess is that they are using the 1984 foundation date of whichever one of those three schools was founded first.  In any event, they started 6-man football in 2008, 7-man in 2012, 8-man in 2014 or 15 and 11 man in 2016.  

Clearly there was a school before there was football.   And I suspect there would be a school even if they stopped playing football . . . but the composition of the small student body would change significantly. 

[Dr. D]

I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure a school has to have some standing to offer Advanced Placement courses and dual enrollment (as stated on their website).  As far as their size, there are surely other private schools with 200-250 students.  Are we suspicious of all of them?  What is the enrollment cutoff for "legitimate"?  But putting the 50 international students aside, that leaves 200 sets of parent(s) in the Clearwater area who are spending their own money (+ possibly voucher money) to send their children to CAI.  Maybe their kids have special needs, maybe they do better in small classes, maybe they learn better through non-traditional methods, maybe they have sincere religious or personal beliefs.  As long as the school is not breaking any local, state, or federal laws, why do we even care if they have a football team or if parents choose to send their children there if they are acting in their child's best interest.  CAI is not a member of the FHSAA, so no one is compelled to play them.  If someone elects to play them, they do so willingly and know what they are getting in to.         

[PinellasFB]

2 hours ago, nolebull813 said:

They were a school decades before they had a football team. At what point did they need a football team to survive as a school?

Well you have correctly pointed out that I am making some assumptions and what I am assuming is that they are employing a strategy of using high profile sports (almost always football and/or basketball) as a means to promote their school and improve its profile.  Starting a football team is fine and drawing upon the student body and maybe try to convince some local kids to come there is not shady.  The part about going from 8-man football to an 11-man powerhouse in a short time is the suspect part.  Recruiting athletes is always the shady part of the deal because high profile athletes always need some sort of incentive to come to your tiny school.  These international 4 and 5 star athletes could play anywhere.  If you are that great of an athlete, even if new to the sport, any team in the country will accommodate you.  They are being drawn to tiny CAI in downtown Clearwater with hardly anything else to offer (have you seen their campus?) for a reason.  That is definitely something that causes me some suspicion.

Anyway, nobody has to win the internet and your take isn't wrong either.  I am done with my soap box because I'm beating a dead horse here.

[Jambun82]

11 hours ago, PinellasFB said:

Okay man, we will agree to disagree on this one.  You spout on about my lack of facts (fair enough) but you don't throw any facts out yourself to defend them.  Simply having a great football team doesn't make the school legit either.  I find them highly suspect based upon circumstances of extremely small enrollment and sudden investment in football but on the other hand they aren't any different than IMG which most folks seem okay with.

As far as F rated schools, that is a completely different topic based upon public school funding and local neighborhood socioeconomics.  In fact, public money (via vouchers) going to these private schools is money that could be flowing into these F rated schools.  At least I agree with you here in that this needs to be addressed.  It's a tough solution and I don't really know how to fix it because it is much deeper than simply throwing money at the problem.

Your post makes no sense. 

[Longtime Observer]

I've got to run to a meeting, but watched the end of this on 2x speed. CAI won in one of the most improbable finishes ever. It appears they took a page out of the STA-Cocoa playbook and took advantage of grossly incompetent officiating. I'll rewatch at normal speed to confirm later.

CAI

[Perspective]

2 hours ago, Longtime Observer said:

I've got to run to a meeting, but watched the end of this on 2x speed. CAI won in one of the most improbable finishes ever. It appears they took a page out of the STA-Cocoa playbook and took advantage of grossly incompetent officiating. I'll rewatch at normal speed to confirm later.

CAI

Oh, lord, did you really just question the officiating?  Without referencing the specific plays in question by quarter, down-and-distance, and time-stamp?  And without providing your resume or C.V. to establish your qualifications to form an opinion on something so inherently difficult to understand as officiating? 

Well, I think we all know how this one's going to play out.  

[Longtime Observer]

5 hours ago, Perspective said:

Oh, lord, did you really just question the officiating?  Without referencing the specific plays in question by quarter, down-and-distance, and time-stamp?  And without providing your resume or C.V. to establish your qualifications to form an opinion on something so inherently difficult to understand as officiating? 

Well, I think we all know how this one's going to play out.  

haha. Here's a recap:

After trailing 33-14 in the 4th, CAI was down 33-27, Riverview stopped CAI on 4th down with 1:11 to go. CAI had two timeouts left. Riverview fumbled on 1st down at CAI 33 with 1:01 left. CAI proceeded to go 4 and out. Riverview took over at the CAI 33 with about 40 seconds left. They took a knee. In celebration, a Riverview player did a backflip. An unsportsmanlike like conduct penalty was thrown and the clock stopped. Officials seem confused and delay the game- par for the course in Florida HSFB. Riverview takes another knee. CAI takes a timeout. CAI announcer wonders why they took the timeout given the game was decided. More delay, confusion and arguing. With some defenders facing the sidelines, Riverview takes another knee. CAI wisely copies STA and charges the QB with no contact. More delay, confusion and arguing. Stadium announcer says he thinks” CAI took a timeout. More delays, confusion and arguing. No announcement of any kind by officials. 4th down is forced. Riverview runs back 33 yards to take a safety with 1.8 seconds left. Riverview squibs the kickoff, CAI catches it takes a step and falls down at the Riverview 36. clock does not run AT ALL. CAI throws a Hail Mary on the last play to win.

 

[Jambun82]

11 hours ago, Perspective said:

Oh, lord, did you really just question the officiating?  Without referencing the specific plays in question by quarter, down-and-distance, and time-stamp?  And without providing your resume or C.V. to establish your qualifications to form an opinion on something so inherently difficult to understand as officiating? 

Well, I think we all know how this one's going to play out.  

You got something right for a change, Perspective.

[Jambun82]

5 hours ago, Longtime Observer said:

haha. Here's a recap:

After trailing 33-14 in the 4th, CAI was down 33-27, Riverview stopped CAI on 4th down with 1:11 to go. CAI had two timeouts left. Riverview fumbled on 1st down at CAI 33 with 1:01 left. CAI proceeded to go 4 and out. Riverview took over at the CAI 33 with about 40 seconds left. They took a knee. In celebration, a Riverview player did a backflip. An unsportsmanlike like conduct penalty was thrown and the clock stopped. Officials seem confused and delay the game- par for the course in Florida HSFB. Riverview takes another knee. CAI takes a timeout. CAI announcer wonders why they took the timeout given the game was decided. More delay, confusion and arguing. With some defenders facing the sidelines, Riverview takes another knee. CAI wisely copies STA and charges the QB with no contact. More delay, confusion and arguing. Stadium announcer says he thinks” CAI took a timeout. More delays, confusion and arguing. No announcement of any kind by officials. 4th down is forced. Riverview runs back 33 yards to take a safety with 1.8 seconds left. Riverview squibs the kickoff, CAI catches it takes a step and falls down at the Riverview 36. clock does not run AT ALL. CAI throws a Hail Mary on the last play to win.

 

Is there a video of this game that can be viewed? 

[Longtime Observer]

15 hours ago, Jambun82 said:

Is there a video of this game that can be viewed? 

Yes, three or four posts up I posted the link

[Jambun82]

8 hours ago, Longtime Observer said:

Yes, three or four posts up I posted the link

I watched the video. I have no idea what happened at the end of the game with the officiating. 

[Longtime Observer]

21 hours ago, Jambun82 said:

I watched the video. I have no idea what happened at the end of the game with the officiating. 

Calling an "unsportsmanlike conduct" penalty, after a player showed excitement in a non-taunting way, which was not only 15 yards but also a free timeout to CAI, is one thing they did. That penalty is probably the most frequently abused penalty by officials in Florida. You people have anointed yourselves to be dispensers of "lessons", and take that to absurd lengths. The idea that the field is "an extension of the classroom" has been utterly bastardized by officials. 

The other major issue was the clock operator. Teams can't possibly field a kick, turn around and fall down with ZERO time going off the clock. If 1.9 seconds ran off, the game would've been over.

[Jambun82]

58 minutes ago, Longtime Observer said:

Calling an "unsportsmanlike conduct" penalty, after a player showed excitement in a non-taunting way, which was not only 15 yards but also a free timeout to CAI, is one thing they did. That penalty is probably the most frequently abused penalty by officials in Florida. You people have anointed yourselves to be dispensers of "lessons", and take that to absurd lengths. The idea that the field is "an extension of the classroom" has been utterly bastardized by officials. 

The other major issue was the clock operator. Teams can't possibly field a kick, turn around and fall down with ZERO time going off the clock. If 1.9 seconds ran off, the game would've been over.

You have proven once again that you, like most other posters to this message board, are not qualified to rate or critique officials or officiating. I go back once again to the Jim Mora quote: "You really and truly don't know, you think that you know, but you don't know and you never will." Longtime Observer is a good message board name for you, because that is about all that you should be doing, Observing for a Longtime. Now, if we just just make it "Longtime Observer who keeps his mouth shut about things he knows nothing about."